According to the port’s commercial director, Johann Botha, MPDC is currently investing 400 million US dollars. Over the next five years this sum will increase to 1.7 billion dollars.
Botha revealed these figures on Wednesday in Maputo during a press conference to publicise events celebrating the forthcoming 110th anniversary of the port and the tenth anniversary of the MPDC gaining the port concession.
MPDC has already received six of the dozen Liebherr pay loaders ordered last year. The new machines will reduce truck turn-around time and improve ship productivity and stockpile management.
According to the director of operations, Gerhard Botha, “this is MPDC’s largest ever investment in replacing equipment”.
MPDC is also spending 11 million dollars on the Maputo Car Terminal's expansion which began in January and should be completed in July.
The port’s communication officer, Soraia Abdula, pointed out that the port is old and needs to be modernised to meet the requirements of its users. She explained that last year Maputo port handled 15 million tonnes of cargo, whilst it had only been expecting to cope with 12 million tonnes. This year it is plans to handle 18 million tonnes
“Our goal is to handle fifty million tonnes by the year 2020”, said Abdula.
Regarding the recent road traffic congestion resulting from the increase in trucks transporting cargo to the port, Johann Botha stated that this was due to the closure of the Ressano Garcia railway line, which he hoped would be reopened as soon as possible.
The railway line is the main route for South African exporters using Maputo port. However, the derailment of a freight train on 19 February seriously damaged a bridge and since then the port has not received any trains carrying coal or magnetite, leading to heavy financial losses.
As a result of the line closure there has been an enormous increase in the number of trucks driving along the EN4 highway from South Africa to Maputo. This has led at times to gridlock as lorries queue to get into the port.
According to the MPDC’s director of human resources, Joao Cuna, the company is also investing heavily in training to meet the planned increase in the volume of cargo. In May last year 44 people began training how to operate the port’s machinery and this month another 48 people will start training.
MPDC is a private company composed of the Mozambican publicly owned rail and port company CFM, South African company Grindrod, and Dubai’s DP World.
Post published in: Africa News